Night Of The Living Dead DVD Retrospective

[JohnIan101]

Laser Disc Formats

This needs to be addressed.

An explanation of laser disc. Man, I feel old. Laser disc or sometimes called Laserdisc was a video format that began in 1978 and died in 2001. The discs were LP sized (think giant double sided compact discs) and came in two formats, CLV and CAV.



Above is an ad from Home Video Magazine from 1982. This is Magnavox's 8005 model shown. The first machine was made public on December 15th, 1978; the Magnavox, model 8000

This sold in only three stores in America - all in Atlanta, Georgia. It sold out in a matter of hours.

Each machine retailed for $749.00; stores also sold the first movies on disc.



Above is page from the 8000 brochure. Anyway...

CAV is an acronym for Constant Angular Velocity, also known as Standard Play. Discs are encoded at a rate of one frame per disc revolution and disc is played at a fix speed of 1,800 rpms. The time per side is thirty minutes (54,000 individual frames). Users have the ability with these discs to frame advance and smooth multi-speed playback (forward and reverse), plus the option to go to an individual frame.

CLV is Constant Linear Velocity, also known as Extended Play. The rotational speed during playback varies from 1,800 rpms for the innermost tracks to 600 rpms for the outermost. The length per side is one hour. Movement on fast-foward and reverse is choppy. Fancy players (which I didn't own) overcome that problem and behave like CAV discs.

Both types have chapters like DVDs. Laser disc was the format that introduced consumers to the now common movie extras; restored/remastered films, commentaries, deleted scenes, screenplays (whole or excerpts), teasers/trailers, bloopers/outtakes, galleries, making-of featurettes, documentaries, interviews, presentation in stereo, isolated music, Matrix Surround Sound (simulated Surround Sound), liner notes on the jacket/sleeve and director's cut; LD got there first - it was in fact the first interactive video format.

Many of the early DVDs had their extras culled from materials originally appearing on laser disc.

Audio was presented in either digital mono/stereo or analog mono/stereo. Some discs were encoded with AC-3 and/or Dolby Surround. Not to mention, closed captioned. A good chunk of the discs were encoded with CX (Compatible eXpansion), a noise reduction system for the hiss/hum, analog audio only.

One of the big selling points (beyond chapters, though some disc didn't have them) is that laser disc was the only format you could watch movies in widescreen. Yeah, everything back in the day was Full. And of course the superior picture quality (at the time).

In that era, VHS was king. Video cassettes have a resolution of 240 lines, LD has 425. Not to mention since no contact is made with the discs, there wasn't damage occurring with each and every playback, unlike tapes.

Movies on laser disc had to be broken into parts/discs (depending on the length) and side flip(s) to continue/conclude the feature. High end machines did this automatically.

This is the one feature I don't understand that isn't in current DVD players. So many TV box sets have double side discs. Why don't the players, play both sides without flipping? How hard can it be?



The very first special edition LD was from Criterion, their release of "Citizen Kane" (1941) in 1984, two disc set (first pressing came in a box; later re-releases was in a gatefold jacket).

I used to have that, the gatefold.

Yeah. Today's word is Verbose.

- - -

Something that also should be noted.



NOTLD Soundtracks; there are so many of them. Most are bootlegs and some are not - as in the soundtracks to the stage adaptations, there have been many (even high school productions). Above is the digital only EP album (five tracks) from the 2012 The Devious Theatre Company production in Ireland (a present day retelling).

Music by Peter Lawlor; released by Replete, can be bought from $4.95 and up.

The show ran from July 24th - 28th, '12 at the "The Watergate Theatre" in Kilkenny (made me laugh). This kept the concept and added more characters. This was a crowd source production.

Before you ask, no I haven't seen it. But now I'm curious.



Above is a promo image from the stage play by Blue Monkey Theater Co. from 2007. Left to right; Steve Black as Harry Cooper, Shuhe Hawkins as Ben, Kate Larsen as Helen Cooper, Hayley Rousselle as Karen Cooper, Jordan Parkyn as Tom and Molly Ponkevitch as Judy.

Not pictured; Jordi Barnes as Barbara and Ken Potts as Johnny. This was adaptated by Lori Allen Ohm and directed by John Monteverde. It ran from October 19th - 31st, 2007 at "The Valley Cinema & Pub" in Beaverton, Oregon.

Anyhow, the one that sticks to mind is the 2009 production "Night Of The Musical Dead" by Hole In The Wall Theater in New Britain, Connecticut. Nope, didn't see this either.



It happened from July 24th - August 22th, 2009, a musical. It brought something to the table I had never considered before.

The song was for Little Miss Cooper, "Oh Mother". In this version, the infected daughter is named Carrie Rowland. Written by Bill Arnold (who wrote, directed and composed the play; produced by Rebekah Royer-Poppel) sung by Emily Ravita and Jennifer Condon on different days.

All the characters were given new names by the way. Ben became Duane White, Barbara became Bunni, Johnny became Jimmy, Tom became Tim Dutkiewicz, Judy became Kitten, Helen Cooper became Ellen Rowland and Harry Cooper became Harvey Rowland. The story takes place in Wicksford, Connecticut.

So?

The lyrics...

Treat me like a little baby, dress me up just like Cindy Brady. Oh mother. You'd never would admit that I had grown. So now I'm doing something on my own. My days of slavery are about to end. So say 'hello' to my little friend. [trowel] Mother. Oh Mother. You kept me like a little kid, I'd like to replay you back for what you did. Oh mother.

You wouldn't let me date any boys instead you filled my head all up with noise. I always had to lie about my age so now I have some unexpressed rage. Oh mother. Oh mother. All these things I will remember as I begin to dismember you. Mother.

Never said it was fancy.

But it makes me wonder about the mother - daughter relationship Helen had with Karen. Could Arnold be correct?



Above is the cover from the February 1977 issue of Popular Science showcasing the Magnavox LD player. And YES, that guy is super pervy. Girl, you better drop that disc and RUN!!!

Worse yet if he's her dad.

Next to that is a poster from the Devious Theatre production.

Go to YouTube, type in "Devious Theatre Night Of The Living Dead" in search. Or if you know how, "DmFkzxI5bms". It's still there (as of writing), checked. Uploaded on March 9th, 2013 by Devious Theatre.

There you go, you've been educated on laser discs and NOTLD stage plays.

I'll close this post with one more play.

Did not see this one either.



This is the digital only soundtrack EP (five tracks) to the 2009 Urban Pirates Production; music by Bobby Burns. He did a good job. Favorite track is "A Radio (The Plan)".

Sure...

Other plays based on the movie were done by Heritage Theatre Company from "Lewis University" in Romeoville, Illinois. The Maverick Theater in Fullerton, California. And Pumphouse Theatre in Calgary, Canada. Far too many to list. You get the idea.